Bart Scott Expounds On Comments About Tom Brady Being A ‘Cornball’

BOSTON (CBS) — During Bart Scott’s playing days, the Ravens and Jets linebacker was never a beloved figure in New England. That’s a reputation he’s carried into his broadcasting career, as he caused a minor stir a few months ago when he said the following:

“There’s nothing tough about Tom Brady. The toughest thing about Tom Brady is his chin because it has the dimple in it, which is characteristic of most super heroes. Come on man, Tom Brady doesn’t think he’s tough. Gisele [Bundchen] doesn’t think he’s tough. Listen, I respect him, but he plays the game differently. … Listen, I respect Tom Brady, but when he does that he looks like a dork. How many times does he miss air high-fivers? It’s fine, he’s a cornball that was a sixth-round draft pick that became maybe the best quarterback in the history of football and he has a hot wife. He has a great life and he has a bunch of hardware. That’s great. But, does that not make you a cornball? No, he’s still a corn ball. I’m sure his teammates tell him he’s a cornball. It’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with being a cornball.”

Sounds like the perfect guest for Felger & Mazz.

Scott, now an analyst at CBS, joined Felger & Mazz on radio row on Wednesday, and he was decidedly more complimentary toward the Patriots when the discussion began.

“I rooted for the Patriots as a fan coming out, but at some point when I become an opponent, I have to hate you. I have to go in with that mind-set. But do I respect you? Of course I respect ’em. How could you not?” Scott said.

Do you like Tom Brady?

“Yes I do,” he said. “Whenever we see each other out, it’s much respect to him. Listen, he’s a sixth-round draft pick; I’m undrafted. I root for those type of guys. I root for the underdog. I’ve always been the underdog. I love those stories. But what happened was they went from the underdogs to the favorite and I can’t root for the favorites. You get tired of seeing the same guys in the championships over and over again.”

Later, when Felger told Scott that he was backing off those earlier Brady comments, Scott explained himself.

“Listen, listen, let me tell you something. Football players know, and I was making reference more to his dancing, some of the corny things that he does. … He has a beautiful wife, he has a great life, and she dressed him up and put him in some cool clothes. But at the core, he is who he is,” Scott said. “I’m not backing off. At the end of the day, he is who he is. Clothes don’t make you cool. And there’s nothing wrong with being a cornball. There are some guys out here that we think are dorks or nerds that are the coolest guys when you meet them, but from the exterior they look like they’re corny or they’re nerds.

“Have you ever been with somebody and think like, ‘Man, I think he’s a dork,’ and then you go out and you’re like, ‘Man, this dude is an animal!’? I think with Tom Brady it’s just the opposite. It’s not a knock.

“Remember how Will Smith was before he got a stylist and got all dressed up? He was corny, he was dorky. He was like the funny rapper. He wasn’t the guy who was suave. He wasn’t Dos Equis. He wasn’t the most interesting man in the world. He was like the silly little dude in the corner. Just because you put some new clothes on, get him Jada Pinkett, and they get a stylist and she put him up there and now he’s looking like Mike Lowrey, that don’t mean at the core he’s still not who he is.

“That’s all I was saying, and athletes know that. We know that in the locker room. Mark Sanchez, love him to death. Cornball! But from the outside he looks like Miami Vice. But then you hang out with him and you’re like, man are you 12 years old?

“That’s all I’m saying.”

Watch Scott comment on Brady above, and listen to the full interview below: